Soap opera trailer analysis

As my group will be creating a soap opera trailer I decided to look deeper into what soap opera trailers include so that I know what to include in my groups. I analysed three different successful soap opera trailers about what they include so that I can follow these generic conventions when making our groups trailer to ensure it is successful.
I decided to analyse three different soap opera's for the trailers to see whether it is all of them that follow similar conventions.

I analysed the trailers into the following titles;

Mise en Scene
Connotations
Sound
Camera Angles
Narrative
Titles

Soap opera trailer 1) Eastenders 16th December 2009





In this trailer the setting is quickly set through the use of the long shot of the Queen Vic pub, this is showing where something will happen. Through the clothes that one of the characters is wearing at the beginning (a Christmas jumper) stereotypically shows that it is Christmas time. There are connotations of death through the use of some of the characters wearing black clothes and the suspicious movements they are making. The sound used also creates the connotation of death or of something going wrong as its the joyful stereotypical Christmas tune however it has been slowed down almost as if it is broken this connotes that something is not going to go as planned. Also through the use of sound the narrative is being told, they are all talking about their motives to kill a certain character so the clear narrative in this trailer is that a character within the soap is going to be killed but it will be a mystery who did it as a lot of them have motives for it.
The camera angles used at the beginning with the close up of the girl crying show that there is sadness, that although it is Christmas there is a state of depression within some of the characters.
There was not alot of use of titles throughout this trailer there was only the advertisement of BBC ONE to show which channel the programme would be showing on and also at the end was the information on what time and what day it would be shown, this is to inform the audience so that they can watch it.

Soap opera trailer 2) Coronation Street 28th February 2009



The narrative for this trailer is clear from the start that it is a wedding this is shown through the use of the hairband at the beginning with the woman in the wedding dress, the decorating of the cake and the card received.
The look on the characters face when putting up the banner with 'congratulations' written on it shows a sign on disbelief and the lack of belief he has for the couple this is the same with the female protagonist who crosses her fingers this shows that she is almost saying 'hopefully its alright' this shows connotations that something is going to go wrong. This is also shown through how everything being prepared is all perfect such as the table and the cake and the dress it signifies that something will go wrong. The girl opens a whole bottle of champagne alone and begins to drink it this could signify that she will be drunk on her wedding day causing something to go wrong. Another connotation of something going wrong is that the stereotypical wedding car is white and the car used in the trailer is black this con notates that something bad will happen as everything else was perfect but there is a black car used.
The sound used in the trailer easily sets the narrative of the wedding as its a happy wedding day stereotypical love song. The sound at the end, the non diegetic sound of a male talking says 'Friday 13th perfect day for wedding' this con notates that something is defiantly going to go wrong as Friday the 13th is supposedly seen as an unlucky day.
The camera angles used show the narrative and setting well there are mid shots of the bride and groom getting ready showing that its a wedding and there are mid shots of the local pub and street to show the setting and location of the soap.
Once again there are not many titles used in the soap only the use of ITV 1 in the bottom corner to show the audience what channel the soap will be on and the use of the date of the episode at the end to inform the viewers of when the episode will be shown.

Soap opera trailer 3)Hollyoaks 26th October 2010



Once again within this trailer the narrative is quite clear that there will be a fire and because of the constant use of fire through out the trailer (everything being touched) signifies that it will be a big fire that will cause alot of damage. The girl in the white dress at the beginning is in white, this signifies innocence but when she scratches the wall it turns to fire this contradicts the connotations of the white dress because maybe she Is not so innocent? Throughout the trailer there are characters wearing red clothing and black clothing this signifies danger and that something is going to go wrong.
The sound throughout the trailer shows that the fire is going to be large as you can constantly hear roars of the flames.
The camera angles used in the trailer are mainly close ups of the damage that is being done for example the glass smashing, the scratches in the wall and the flowers being burnt, this signifies that by focusing all the attention on the damage being done that the fire is going to cause alot of damage.
Once again in this trailer the titles are only used to inform the audience to what channel the episode will be on and what date.